NPP’s National Council confirms Lydia Seyram Alhassan as the party’s 2020 Parliamentary candidate for Ayawaso West Wougon.

The NPP’s National Council, which is the party’s highest decision
making body has, unanimously resolved to make Lydia Seyram Alhassan, the
Member of Parliament for Awayaso West Wougon the NPP’s Parliamentary
Candidate for the 2020 General Elections.

By this decision, the Awayaso West Wougon Constituency becomes the
only constituency in the country where the NPP will not hold
Parliamentary Primaries ahead of this year’s General Elections.

In arriving at this decision, the NPP took the view that Hon. Lydia
Seyram Alhassan was overwhelmingly elected by the delegates of the
constituency to stand as the party’s Parliamentary Candidate during the
by-elections held in that constituency exactly a year ago. It is also
the position of the party that she has thus far, conducted herself
creditably in meeting the legitimate expectations of her constituents
and the party at large. In view of this, the NPP’s National Council felt
it was in the supreme interest of the party to maintain Lydia Seyram
Alhassan as their Parliamentary Candidate in order to guarantee a
retention of the Seat.

This was revealed by the NPP’s General Secretary, John Boadu, when he
addressed a press conference on Thursday, January 16, 2020, to announce
the Rules and Regulations governing the conduct of the party’s 2020
Parliamentary Primaries in constituencies where the party has sitting
Members of Parliament. Among other things, the General Secretary of the
party told the press that:

“The NPP shall hold parliamentary primaries on Saturday April 25,
2020 in all the 169 constituencies where the party has sitting Members
of Parliament with the exception of the Ayawaso West Wougon
constituency. This is because, the party, at a joint National Council
and National Executive Committee meeting held on October 21, 2019,
unanimously resolved that the current MP for the constituency, Hon Lydia
Seyram Alhassan, who was recently elected as the party’s Parliamentary
Candidate for the constituency by-election be made to stand as the
party’s candidate for election 2020”.

The confirmation by the NPP that Lydia Seyram Alhassan will, all
things being equal, be the party’s Parliamentary Candidate for the
Ayawaso West Wougon Constituency has since destabilized the NDC in the
constituency who were hoping that Lydia Seyram Alhassan would be
replaced by, in their view, a “weaker candidate” so that their
candidate, John Dumelo, could make a meaningful impact in the
parliamentary elections.

Obviously, the NDC knows very well that their Parliamentary Candidate
in the Constituency, John Dumelo, who is still battling some
credibility crisis, cannot, on any day, withstand the electoral might of
the workaholic Lydia Alhassan, who, doesn’t only have an unblemished
reputation but also an unrivaled political acumen in the scheme of
things. The NDC, according to many political watchers, is better off
giving up any hope of winning the Ayawaso West Wougon Parliamentary Seat
at least in the 2020 Elections and rather begin strategizing for the
2024 Parliamentary Elections.